Homeschool Basic Edition

[Pages:87]Homeschool Tracker

Basic Edition

TGHomeSoft, LLC

User Manual

Version 2.5

Created and distributed by TGHomeSoft

For additional help, email us at

support@ Copyright (c) 2003-2007, TGHomeSoft, LLC

1

Table of Contents

Where Do I Start? .........................................................................................................6 HELPFUL HINTS.............................................................................................................7

What is Sorting? .........................................................................................................7 How do I SORT? .........................................................................................................7 Column Widths:..........................................................................................................7 Shift-Click Selection:...................................................................................................7 Ctrl-Click Selection: ....................................................................................................7 Right-Click Menus:......................................................................................................8 ACTIVITIES ................................................................................................................ 11 What are Activities? .................................................................................................. 11 How do I ADD an Activity in the Maintenance Grid?....................................................... 11 How do I ADD an Activity from the Assignment Add/Edit window? .................................. 12 How do I EDIT an Activity in the Maintenance grid? ...................................................... 12 How do I EDIT an Activity from the Assignment Add/Edit window?.................................. 12 How do I DELETE an Activity? .................................................................................... 12 ASSIGNMENTS ............................................................................................................ 13 Tell me about Assignments ........................................................................................ 13 The Assignment Grid Filters ....................................................................................... 13 How do I ADD an Assignment? ................................................................................... 14 How do I EDIT an Assignment? .................................................................................. 15 How do I EDIT multiple assignments at one time? ........................................................ 15 Can I edit assignments direclty in the grid?.................................................................. 15 How do I MARK one or more Assignments as COMPLETE from the Assignment Grid? ......... 16 How do I MARK one or more Assignment as INCOMPLETE from the Assignment Grid? ....... 16 How do I make a SINGLE COPY of an Assignment? ....................................................... 16 How do I MAKE MULTIPLE COPIES of an Assignment? ................................................... 17 What does the Use As New button do? ........................................................................ 18 I see a "Save Templ" button. What is that? .................................................................. 18 How do I DELETE an Assignment?............................................................................... 18 The Assignment Grid Right-Click Menu ........................................................................ 19 I need more options in how the assignments are displayed ............................................ 19 ASSIGNMENT REPORTS................................................................................................ 20 What is the Assignment Report? ................................................................................. 20 How do I generate an Assignment report? ................................................................... 20 I need more options in how the assignment report is displayed ...................................... 21 Sample Assignment Report:....................................................................................... 22 ATTENDANCE .............................................................................................................. 23 Why should I use the ATTENDANCE feature? ................................................................ 23 How do I choose to track TOTAL HOURS in the Attendance Calendar? ............................. 23 How do I enter TOTAL HOURS in the Attendance Calendar? ........................................... 23 How do I mark a day as PRESENT? ............................................................................. 24 How do I mark a day as SICK? ................................................................................... 25 How do I return a day to unmarked from PRESENT or SICK?.......................................... 25 What is a HOLIDAY?.................................................................................................. 25 How do I mark a day as a HOLIDAY?........................................................................... 25 How do I unmark a day as a HOLIDAY? ....................................................................... 26 What happens if we hold school on a Holiday?.............................................................. 26 How do I enter more detail to my Attendance calendar entries? ..................................... 27 ATTENDANCE REPORT.................................................................................................. 28 What is the Attendance Report?.................................................................................. 28 How do I generate an Attendance Report? ................................................................... 28 Sample Attendance Summary Report:......................................................................... 29 DAILY JOURNAL .......................................................................................................... 30 What is the Journal? ................................................................................................. 30 How do I use the Journal? ......................................................................................... 30

2

DAILY JOURNAL REPORT .............................................................................................. 31 What is the Daily Journal Report? ............................................................................... 31 How do I generate a Journal Report?........................................................................... 31 Sample Daily Journal Report: ..................................................................................... 31

FIELD TRIPS ............................................................................................................... 32 Tell me about Field Trips and the Field Trips grid .......................................................... 32 How do I ADD a Field Trip? ........................................................................................ 32 Field Trips in the Field Trip window and Assignment Grid views: ..................................... 33 How do I EDIT a Field Trip?........................................................................................ 34 How do I DELETE a Field Trip?.................................................................................... 34

FIELD TRIP REPORT ..................................................................................................... 35 What is the Field Trip Report? .................................................................................... 35 How do I generate a Field Trip report? ........................................................................ 35 Sample Report ......................................................................................................... 36

GLOSSARY.................................................................................................................. 37 GRADES ..................................................................................................................... 40

Tell me about Grades and Homeschool Tracker BASIC................................................... 40 How does Homeschool Tracker BASIC calculate my students' grades? ............................. 40 Examples of how Tracker calculates grades: ................................................................ 41 What about Weighted Grading, Letter Grades and Transcripts?....................................... 41 HELP.......................................................................................................................... 42 How do I get Help? ................................................................................................... 42 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... 42 Search .................................................................................................................... 42 Additional Assistance................................................................................................. 42 Check For Updates.................................................................................................... 42 About...................................................................................................................... 43 MAIN MENU ................................................................................................................ 44 What does the Main Menu show me?........................................................................... 44 NAVIGATION TREE ...................................................................................................... 45 What is the Navigation Tree? ..................................................................................... 45 How do I turn on/off the Navigation Tree? ................................................................... 45 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 46 What is Overview? .................................................................................................... 46 How do I view the Overview for a student? .................................................................. 46 What does the Overview show me?............................................................................. 46 OVERVIEW REPORT ..................................................................................................... 47 What is the Overview Report? .................................................................................... 47 How do I generate an Overview Report? ...................................................................... 47 Sample Report: ........................................................................................................ 47 PROGRAM OPTIONS..................................................................................................... 48 Why do I care about Options? .................................................................................... 48 What are my options? ............................................................................................... 48 READING LOG............................................................................................................. 50 What is the Reading Log? .......................................................................................... 50 How do I ADD a Reading Log entry?............................................................................ 50 How do I EDIT a Reading Log entry? ........................................................................... 50 How do I mark a Reading Log item as FINISHED?......................................................... 51 How do I DELETE a Reading Log entry? ....................................................................... 51 READING LOG REPORT................................................................................................. 52 What is the Reading Log report? ................................................................................. 52 How do I generate a Reading Log report? .................................................................... 52 How do I get more options? ....................................................................................... 52 Sample report .......................................................................................................... 53 REPORT CARD............................................................................................................. 54 What is the Report Card?........................................................................................... 54 How do I generate a Report Card? .............................................................................. 54 Sample Report: ........................................................................................................ 56 REPORTS ? General Information.................................................................................... 57

3

The Reports: ............................................................................................................ 57 Report Options:........................................................................................................ 57 Setting Report Dates: ............................................................................................... 57 Preview Pane options: ............................................................................................... 58 RESCHEDULING .......................................................................................................... 59 What is Rescheduling?............................................................................................... 59 Things to keep in mind:............................................................................................. 59 How Does Rescheduling Work? ................................................................................... 59 How do I Reschedule? ............................................................................................... 59 RESOURCES ............................................................................................................... 61 Tell me about Resources............................................................................................ 61 How do I ADD a Resource? ........................................................................................ 61 How do I EDIT a Resource?........................................................................................ 62 How do I DELETE a Resource? .................................................................................... 63 What is a GROUP RESOURCE? .................................................................................... 63 How do I designate an item as a Group Resource? ........................................................ 63 RESOURCE TYPES........................................................................................................ 64 What are Resource Types? ......................................................................................... 64 How do I ADD a Resource Type in the Maintenance Grid? .............................................. 64 How do I ADD a Resource Type from the Resource Add/Edit window? ............................. 64 How do I EDIT a Resource Type in the Maintenance grid? .............................................. 65 How do I EDIT a Resource Type from the Lesson Add/Edit windows?............................... 65 How do I DELETE a Resource Type? ............................................................................ 65 RESOURCES USED REPORT .......................................................................................... 66 What is the Resources Used Report? ........................................................................... 66 How do I generate a Resources Used report? ............................................................... 66 I need more options.................................................................................................. 66 Sample Report: ........................................................................................................ 67 SCHOOL INFO ............................................................................................................. 68 Tell me about the School Info window ......................................................................... 68 How do I enter my information in the School Info form? ................................................ 68 SCHOOL YEARS........................................................................................................... 69 What is a School Year? .............................................................................................. 69 How do I set up School Years? ................................................................................... 69 Can I change my Start and End Dates? ....................................................................... 69 How do I switch from one School Year to another?........................................................ 70 What happens if I DELETE a School Year? .................................................................... 70 How do I DELETE a School Year? ................................................................................ 70 STUDENTS.................................................................................................................. 71 Tell me about Students ............................................................................................. 71 How do I ADD a Student? .......................................................................................... 71 How do I EDIT Student Information?........................................................................... 72 How do I DELETE a Student ....................................................................................... 72 SUBJECTS .................................................................................................................. 73 Tell me about Subjects .............................................................................................. 73 How do I ADD a Subject in the Maintenance Grid? ........................................................ 73 How do I ADD a Subject from the Assignment Add/Edit window? .................................... 74 How do I EDIT a Subject in the Maintenance grid? ........................................................ 74 How do I EDIT a Subject from the Assignment Add/Edit window? ................................... 74 How do I DELETE a Subject? ...................................................................................... 74 TEACHER'S PLANNER ................................................................................................... 75 How do I generate a Teacher's Planner Report? ............................................................ 75 Sample Report: ........................................................................................................ 76 TEMPLATES ................................................................................................................ 77 What are Templates? ................................................................................................ 77 How do I CREATE a new Template?............................................................................. 77 How do I USE the templates I've created? ................................................................... 78 How do I UPDATE an existing Template? ..................................................................... 78 How do I DELETE a Template?.................................................................................... 79

4

TERMS ....................................................................................................................... 80 What is a Term? ....................................................................................................... 80 How do I ADD Terms? ............................................................................................... 80 How do I EDIT Terms? .............................................................................................. 81 What happens if I DELETE a Term? ............................................................................. 81 How do I DELETE Terms?........................................................................................... 81

TIME SPENT REPORT ................................................................................................... 82 What is the Time Spent Report? ................................................................................. 82 How do I generate a Time Spent/Sessions Report? ....................................................... 82

YOUR DATABASE ......................................................................................................... 83 General Information.................................................................................................. 83 Backing Up HSPlanner2.mdb ...................................................................................... 84 Restoring Your Database ........................................................................................... 85 Pointing to Your Database.......................................................................................... 85 Automatic backups ................................................................................................... 85 Using Homeschool Tracker on a Network ..................................................................... 86 Sending Your Database to Support@ .................................................... 86

Homeschool Tracker Plus Features................................................................................ 87 Here are just some of the features you'll find in Plus:................................................... 87

5

Where Do I Start?

New Homeschool Tracker User

Homeschool Tracker is a powerful tool that can greatly benefit your scheduling and recordkeeping needs. Getting started can be a bit overwhelming. We offer this guide to help you dive in...without drowning!

1. Be sure to peruse the User Manual found on our web site at . It is filled with screen shots to help you find your way through each feature.

2. Also know that you can get help within the program by pressing F1 at any time. 3. Keep our support email address handy. We're always willing to answer your questions

at support@. You can also reach us via AOL, MSN and Yahoo! Instant Message programs. Check the website for screen names. 4. Learn how to use Shift-Click and Ctrl-Click to select records. If you are already familiar with this tool, that's great. If not, you can find instructions and examples of their use in Helpful Hints. You'll find yourself using this often as you copy, edit and delete records. 5. Click on Tools: Options. Read through all the options listed. Some won't make sense to you just now, perhaps, but at least you'll have an idea of the different options you can set when using the program. 6. Then go to the Maintenance tab area. 7. Enter your School Info - name, address and, most importantly, check off the days of the week you generally hold school. This will be important for copying and moving items later. 8. Go to School Years and set up the info for your current school year - start and end dates. Make sure to mark it as the Active School year. 9. Go to Terms and set up quarters, trimesters, or semesters, or whatever works for you. These will be used in the Report Card. 10. Go to Students and enter your student info. First and last name are required, the other fields are optional. 11. Go to the Subjects area and delete the pre-entered subjects you don't want and add the ones you do. 12. Now, you're ready to try adding an assignment. Subjects, Activities, Resources can all be added or edited from the Assignment add/edit window. 13. You can always use the Default student entry to test out various features, without compromising your own students' records. 14. Most importantly ? only use the features that work for you. Don't adapt your methods of homeschooling to Tracker. Instead adapt your use of Tracker to meet your individual needs!

6

HELPFUL HINTS

Getting Around in Homeschool Tracker Basic Edition What is Sorting? Sorting creates an ascending (lowest/earliest to highest/latest) or descending (highest/latest to lowest/earliest) ordering of your data by column. How do I SORT?

1. Click on the column you wish to sort by. 2. One click will cause an ascending sort 3. Two clicks will cause a descending sort Column Widths: 1. You can change the width of a column by clicking and dragging on the right edge of

the colunn title. 2. Column widths are reset to the default width when you exit Homeschool Tracker Basic. Shift-Click Selection: 1. This is a method for selecting multiple contiguous items in a grid. This process allows

you to highlight items to be edited or deleted. 2. Click the first item you wish to highlight. 3. Scroll, if necessary, so that you can see the last item you wish to highlight. 4. Press and hold the Shift key. 5. Click on the last record to be included. All the records between the first you chose to

the last will be highlighted 6. Release the Shift key. You can now right-click over the selection to perform your

desired action.

Ctrl-Click Selection: 1. This is a method for selecting multiple non-contiguous items in a grid. This process allows you to highlight items to be edited or deleted. 2. Click the first item you wish to highlight. 3. Press and hold the Ctrl key

7

4. Click on the each individual record you wish to include in your selection. You may include as many records as you'd like.

5. Release the Ctrl key. 6. You can now right-click over the selection to perform your desired action.

Right-Click Menus:

You can use the right-click menus to perform actions on one or selected records. To enable a right-click menu (also called a context menu), simply right-click over an individual record or a group of records you selected using the Shift-click or Ctrl-click methods (see above). The options in the right-click menus change depending on the window you are working in. Rightclick menus are only available when there is at least one item entered in the grid.

Assignments

1. You can right-click over an individual item in the Assignment grid, or over multiple items using the Shift-Click or Ctrl-Click procedures outlined above.

2. Add New... allows you to add a new item to the grid. Clicking this option will bring up the Assignment Add/Edit window.

3. Assignment from Template allows you to enter an item to the grid using a pre-saved template form. When you click this option you'll see a sub-menu with all the Subjects that have templates saved. When you click on a subject, you'll then see all the Activities with templates. Finally, choose the Template title you assigned when saving. See Templates for more information.

4. Copy: For single item selection only: you will be brought to the Copy Assignments window, from which you can choose to make a Single Copy or to Copy over Date Range.

5. Edit: For single item selection only: This will open the Add/Edit Assignment window for that item.

6. Delete allows you to permanently remove the selected item(s) from the database. You will have an opportunity to confirm your selection before deletion occurs. Deleted items cannot be retrieved.

7. Use As New: For single item selection only: is only available for single item selections. This option creates a copy of the selected record. You may then change the record as you wish and save it to the grid, or use the Copy button in the Add/Edit Assignment window to make a single copy or to copy over date range.

8

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download